We’ve been getting out more and more the last few weeks even though winter is definitely upon Buenos Aires. It’s been raining a lot and the temperature has dropped to the low 50’s.

Drew wanted to find a grocery store that sold turkey deli meat. After some research online, he found Jumbo Supermarkets. The nearest Jumbo is in the nearby port-side neighborhood of Puerto Madero, about 25 minutes away. One late afternoon we set out in the drizzling rain to find the upscale supermarket. We found more than we expected! A Wholefood style store on the bottom floor of a brand new high-rise. We loaded up on deli meat, gourmet cheeses, fresh sandwich rolls, canned black beans, peanut butter, and craft beer. We wandered each aisle for an hour & half and loaded up on over $100 in food!

A few days later, we attended our second InterNations event, a small dinner at Siamo nel Forno, a Napolitano style pizza restaurant. Check out my recent post to read about our first InterNations event.

We arrived at Siamo nel Forno in Palermo and were warmly greeted by the group. After introductions, we learned that our dinner companions came from all over the globe including Argentina, Italy, Israel, Chile, and Brazil. As the beer started flowing, the group chatted about work, our world travel experiences, and hometowns. It got pretty confusing when our group started conversing in multiple languages including English, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, though they made a conscious effort to speak in English for us. They even gave us some great advice about our upcoming trips to Patagonia and Atacama.

Drew and I ordered the “Margherita con Salsiccia”. The thin crust pizza was topped with tangy marinara sauce, rich pork and fennel sausage, fresh buffalo mozzarella and basil which came piping hot out of the Italian wood fire oven. Siamo nel Forno’s pizza stands out among Buenos Aires’ saturated pizza market with its traditional and unique pizza toppings. Each pizza is made with high-quality ingredients imported from Italy. It is certainly on par with some of our favorite pizza places in San Francisco like Tony’s and Gioia and is by far the best pizza we have had in Buenos Aires.

A few days later, Drew and I decided to have a date night. Earlier in the week, we explored the Westside of the neighborhood. We found a cute tree-lined street full of restaurants, bakeries, and ice cream parlors and decided to head there for our night out. After viewing the menu at a few bistros we chose to have dinner at a charming restaurant with an old world vibe called Club Social. We were greeted by our friendly and stunning waitress, who helped us decipher the menu. We split a Caesar salad to start. I ordered a pisco sour and oso bucco with creamy risotto. Drew ordered a beer and ribs with a baked potato. We had ourselves quite the feast and had the leftovers boxed up.

After dinner, we decided to have a nightcap at our neighborhood speakeasy bar called Doppelgänger. They had a huge list of specialty cocktails broken into categories like martinis, whiskey cocktails, creamy cocktails, sparkling cocktails, unique cocktails, and citrus cocktails. Drew ordered an old fashion and I had myself a vodka citrus cocktail. Doppelgänger delivered awesome cocktail and interesting people watching with lots of PDA.

The rest of the week was slow for us as we dodged the rain, cooked, and watched YouTube. I caught up on my guilty pleasures, Dancing with the Stars and the Bachelorette. We decided to hire a cleaning lady our AirBNB host recommended to tidy up our apartment. For $20 she would clean the apartment and water the plants for 4 hours. While the cleaning lady came, we put Posey in her Sherpa and set out for happy hour at a local brewery, Antares. We drank a few pints and shared an order of nachos. After the brewery, we decided to go to dinner. Though it was early for dinner by Argentina’s standards, we found an open nearby Indian restaurant called Delhi Masala. I ordered Masala tea with milk, which is made with cardamom, cloves, peppercorns, star anise, ginger, and cinnamon. We split an order of chicken masala, saffron rice, and garlic naan bread. We told our waitress that we wanted the chicken to be muy picante (very spicy). When our food arrived, we dug in. The food was pretty good although the chicken was not spicy. Luckily, we were given a few sauces including Raita, a cucumber and yogurt sauce, and a spicy paste. The paste helped kick up the spice level a few notches.

We came home to clean apartment and a sleepy dog. Unfortunately, a few days later our AirBnB host sent us a message saying that the cleaning lady complained about the condition of the apartment. She claimed that Posey had peed and we had ruined the apartment. She even accused us of stealing her sheets and couch cover! We were totally flabbergasted by these allegations. We have been diligent about taking Posey out to go to the bathroom and the apartment was spotless after the cleaning. I took photographs of the “condition” and of all the sheets and couch cover. I wrote her back disputing the claims and sent pictures. Later that night, we received a message saying she still believed that Posey had peed and that she was taking it to AirBnB. I asked where the cleaning lady claimed to find the dog urine and I was told it was under the desk in the office/closet area. Our host told me the area had been cleaned with bleach. Then she hit us with a $300 fee to have the cleaner come once a week and pay for the bedding and rugs cleaned twice throughout our stay. We had 72 hours to counter or pay.

Before responding, we decided to examine the area where the “urine” was found and what we discovered truly shocked us! We didn’t find any evidence (smell or stains) of dog urine. However, we did realize there is a ton of mold, water damage, and water leaking! The entire wall under the desk was, and still is, bubbling with mold and water damage. There is water leaking through the seams in the floor and into the bookcase resting against the wall. I took pictures of the evidence and wrote my response. We then wrote AirBnB our side of the story detailing of the current situation. We offered $40 to have the cleaning lady come two more times throughout our stay. Then we waited…

Have you ever had a bad experience with an AirBnB host or landlord? Please leave your comment below.

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Welcome to Tip Top Planning! I am Jamie Alison, a professional event planner who wants to travel the globe cooking, practicing yoga, dancing, learning Spanish, camping, feeling the music, hiking, and exploring new cultures. I've been living in San Francisco for the past 9 years. I recent got back from an 8 month trip to Argentina, Chile, Peru & Mexico. I am a planner at heart and have created this blog to capture my adventures and share advice with other travel loving dog owners. I also do virtual event planning and want to share my knowledge and experiences with you! I hope you will be inspired and follow our journey, because sometime the only form of transportation is a leap of faith.